Story by Mark Hume A watershed in the northwest that is facing mine and gas developments and another on the Pacific coast that is the site of a proposed hydropower project, have topped the “most endangered rivers” list in British Columbia for 2012. The list, compiled annually for the past 20 years by the Outdoor Recreation Council, puts three salmon rivers, which all rise in an area known as the Sacred Headwaters, in a tie for first place with the Kokish River, a steelhead stream near Port McNeill, on Vancouver Island. Mark Angelo, Rivers Chair of the ORC, said the unusual log jam occurred at the top of the list because resource developments proposed for the southern edge of the Spatsizi Plateau, in B.C.’s wild northwest corner, will impact three important salmon rivers simultaneously. The Stikine, Skeena and Nass Rivers all have their birth near the small northern village of Iskut, where Shell Canada wants to extract shale gas, and Imperial Metals wants to basically lop the top off Todagin Mountain, blasting 30,000 tons of rock a day to mine copper and gold. Mr. Angelo said either of those two developments could pollute all three rivers, because their headwaters are so close together. “When you fly over, you can see all three at once. That is so special, so we created it as a collective . . . I really don’t think there is anywhere else like this in North America,” said Mr. Angelo. Anyone who has ever fished, or dreamed of fishing, in B.C. will know the names of the Nass, Stikine and Skeena. They are some of the best salmon and steelhead waters on the planet. Mr. Angelo said Shell currently is honouring a moratorium on coal bed methane development in the...